


Set Up

by disdainfreely



Series: Of Medics and Gladiators [3]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 16:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17749673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disdainfreely/pseuds/disdainfreely
Summary: Ratchet brings Megatron a terminal to help him study, but neither he nor Megatron have any idea how to set it up.Megatron knows who might be able to help them.





	Set Up

“So, how is your gladiator?” Ratchet asks, breaking the companionable silence that’s fallen over them as they clean the day’s tools. Megatron glances over at Ratchet, but he doesn’t seem upset or particularly concerned.

“He’s fine. He doesn’t have another fight for a few days. At this point he’s successful enough that they have to try and find challenges for him.” Megatron glances over again. “Why do you ask?”

Ratchet shakes his head. “I just like to know that my apprentice isn’t about to be murdered in the Pits.”

“You’ve met him, Ratchet,” Megatron laughs. “He’s not really the murdering type.”

“Other than his work.”

“Other than that,” Megatron does have to agree. “But I haven’t yet seen him be violent outside of that. He’s quiet, but not cruel. I swear, you’ve been crueler to me in your teaching than he’s ever been.”

Ratchet laughs. “I know I’m a harsh teacher, but I didn’t know I was more frightening than a gladiator.”

“You’ll have to tell your academy student.” Megatron smiles. “You’ll only confirm all their worst fears.” 

“I doubt it’ll work if I’m the one telling the story. It would go better if you were there.” Ratchet falls silent, radiating a mix of sadness and regret in his field. Megatron gently elbows the older mech.

“I know you can’t bring me to the academy. I know why. I know that if you make noise the clinic is going to be shut down. I’m angry about it, but not at you.”

Ratchet gives Megatron a tired smile. “You’re too good a mech.” He gently squeezes Megatron’s upper arm. 

“You can make it up to me by bringing me more books. I finished the last pile you brought.” Megatron gestures to the aforementioned pile, neatly stacked on the counter for Ratchet to return to the academy.

“Primus, you go through those fast.” Ratchet shakes his head. “I’m getting too old to be hauling that many datapads back and forth. Here, I’ll do you one better. If you can be patient for a couple weeks, I think I’ve got something that you can use here to stop me having to carry those every week.”

“I can be patient, but, for the record, you’re not that old.” Megatron rolls his eyes and gets elbowed in reprimand.

“Watch your tone with your elders,” Ratchet says in amusement. “Now, if you’re really done reading those, you should be able to list the components of a neural receptor.”

Megatron beams and launches into a detailed explanation. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Megatron, come get this! Don’t make me carry this in all on my own!” Ratchet calls, voice muffled by whatever he’s holding. Megatron hurries to help him with the boxes that he’s clearly about to drop.

“What is all this?”

“I said I’d bring you something better. It’s the terminal from my office at the academy. They’ve been trying to convince me to take a terminal home so they can make me do work there, but I’m never home anyway. So you should be able to use it here.” Ratchet smiles up at Megatron. “Once we get this thing set up, you’ll have access to all the academy databases and any course that I’m teaching. So, what do you think?”

“Yes, this is...this is amazing, Ratchet. Thank you.” Megatron smiles at Ratchet and feels like his spark might explode with excitement.

“We’ll figure out how to get that thing set up after we close tonight. We can put it in the back office.” Ratchet looks at the massive boxes. “You go take those into the office while I open up.”

Megatron happily obeys. The excitement of the terminal easily carries him through the entire day. With access to all of the academy’s databases, there is an endless amount for him to read and study. He can read anything he wants, whenever he wants. By the time Ratchet closes the doors of the clinic in the evening, Megatron is practically vibrating with anticipation. 

“Go on, then.” Ratchet chuckles and nods toward the office.

“I should help you clean up first,” Megatron says, looking around at the day’s mess. 

“I can clean. Go get that thing set up.”

The words are barely out of Ratchet’s mouth before Megatron is in the office to unpack the boxes. As a miner, he certainly didn’t have access to a desk terminal. A miner didn’t have need of such a thing. Even if he had access to one, it definitely wouldn’t have had access to the databases of Iacon Academy. He happily digs into the boxes and begins unloading their contents. A few minutes later sees the entire floor of the office covered in pieces and wires. Primus. He hadn’t been expecting all this. Ratchet pokes his head in.

“How’s it going?”

“I don’t actually know how to assemble this.” Megatron carefully picks up what’s obviously the screen and the main terminal and sets them on the desk. He can manage basic inputs and such, so he does his best to hook them up, but that leaves a terminal that will turn on with no access to databases, and Megatron still isn’t sure he’s actually managed those basic things correctly.

“This is why I hate machines,” Ratchet grumbles, looking over Megatron’s shoulder. Megatron has to hide a smile. Ratchet says the same thing whenever any of the the clinic’s equipment malfunctions. 

“I know who to call,” Megatron leans back against the desk.

“Who?” Ratchet demands.

“My gladiator.” Megatron laughs at the look Ratchet gives him and puts a hand up to his audial in the universal symbol of a mech on a comm call. He knows Soundwave doesn’t have a fight tonight, so hopefully he’s free.

“Megatron?” Soundwave sounds almost surprised to hear from him.

“Yes, it’s me. I was hoping you knew how to set up a desktop terminal and get it hooked up to a network.” Megatron desperately hopes he’s not misstepping, but cassette carriers are typically used for communications. Soundwave is certainly a gladiator now, but Megatron has no idea about his life before the Pits.

“A desktop terminal?” There’s a long silence from Soundwave’s end of the comm.

“Ratchet brought me one from the academy so I could study without having to wait for him to get me more datapads.”

There’s another silence. “I will be there soon.”

“It’s not an emergency!” Megatron says quickly. “You don’t have to rush.”

“It’s fine. I will be there soon.” The comm cuts out and Megatron lowers his hand.

“So, is your gladiator coming?” Ratchet asks, grinning a little.

“Yes, he is,” Megatron can’t help feeling a little flustered at that look from Ratchet, “and it sounds like he knows how to set this thing up.”

“Good. Until he gets here, I’m going to try and get the patient files in order. Keep an eye out for him.” Ratchet gives the piles of wiring and machinery one last distrustful look before he leaves the office. Megatron chuckles and heads to wait in the check-in area nearest the door.

Soundwave arrives faster than expected. Megatron looks up at the knock on the door paired with a ping over comms. Megatron opens the door and is greeted with a pair of shouted ‘hello’s from Rumble and Frenzy as their skitter in past his feet. 

“I apologize for their...enthusiasm. They get rambunctious on days I don’t have a fight.” Soundwave seems almost embarrassed, like Megatron hasn’t spent a fair amount of time around all of Soundwave’s cassettes.

“So you’re separating them from Ravage before they have their own pit fight?” Megatron steps back to let Soundwave enter the clinic. 

“More or less.”

There’s a clatter from behind the desk that has Megatron slightly concerned, but Soundwave is already shooting a look in the direction and Megatron hears twin squeaks of apology. He can deal with whatever mess they’ve made later. 

“The terminal is in the office.” Megatron leas the way. “I sort of tried, but...without much success.” 

Soundwave radiates faint amusement as he sees the mess of wires. The tiny patter of cassette feet reminds Megatron that Rumble and Frenzy are on the move.

“Wow, there’s stuff everywhere!” Rumble exclaims, peering up at Megatron.

“I said that I tried.” Megatron shrugs a little and hangs back as Soundwave immediately gets to work. 

He seems to know what he’s doing without much needing to think about it. Rumble and Frenzy hang back at Megatron’s feet. When he looks down at them, they look just as mystified as he feels. Megatron hesitates to say anything, not wanting to distract him. He’s fairly certain speaking won’t distract Soundwave, but he’s not positive until Rumble and Frenzy run fully into the room and actually clamber up onto Soundwave’s back to peek over his shoulder, one on each side. Megatron has to try very hard to stifle a smile. Rumble and Frenzy have the same intense focus he sees from the rest of their siblings when they sight prey.

“You work like you’ve done this before,” Megatron notes. Soundwave hums agreement.

“Many times.” He sets the terminal screen in its correct place on the desk, moved back from where Megatron had originally placed it, and gives it a critical look. “You must have assumed as much, since you called me.” 

“I had hoped,” Megatron admits. “I shouldn’t have assumed, though.”

Soundwave shrugs. “It was a logical assumption.” He looks focused on hooking up some wires, so Megatron falls silent as so not to distract him.

Megatron is just starting to consider ducking out to let Soundwave work in peace when the other mech speaks again.

“I worked in communications when I first came online. I had no intention of leaving my function. It became a problem when I sparked Ravage. He was ill-treated because of his alt and my abilities became difficult to control.” Soundwave isn’t looking at Megatron, and Rumble and Frenzy seem to be clinging tighter.

“Abilities?” Megatron asks tentatively. He doesn’t know of any particular abilities unique to Soundwave’s frametype beyond his cassettes.

“I can read the electrical pulses of a mech’s processor and determine what they are thinking and feeling. It was initially overwhelming.” Soundwave glances up at Megatron, but quickly looks back down at the terminal he’s working on. “I was unable to continue my function.”

“You’re an outlier?” Megatron stares in surprise. He had no idea. Outliers are rare enough, but to find one in the Pits, of all places...it’s a shock. 

Soundwave just nods, radiating discomfort as Rumble and Frenzy cling to him and stare defensively up at Megatron.

“But couldn’t you return to your previous function? ...You seem more than capable at this point,” Megatron offers, hoping to set them all more at ease. 

“At this point, I am physically capable, but I have sparked four additional cassettes, two of which have beast alt-modes, and none of which I had permission to create. I have been a gladiator for some time, and I have not been performing my function. To find other work would be nearly impossible.” Soundwave shrugs, as if it’s of little concern to him. Megatron gets the feeling that it certainly is all the same. “This is finished.” he straightens, Rumble and Frenzy still hanging off his shoulders. For once, they’re quiet. 

“Thank you for this,” Megatron gestures to the terminal. “Let me pay you--what would setting one of these up normally cost?”

Soundwave shakes his head. “It was nothing.” 

“Let me at least give you some fuel? You came all the way down to the clinic,” Megatron offers. Rumble and Frenzy perk up in unison at the mention of fuel.

“That would be appreciated,” Soundwave says quietly. Megatron smiles.

“Come on,” he leads the way back into the clinic area to draw a cube for Soundwave and another for the eagerly reaching cassettes.

“I thought I heard voices?” Ratchet comes out to join them. “Soundwave, did you actually get that blasted machine set up?”

Soundwave nods, seemingly amused by Ratchet’s frustration. “It should be fully functional.”

“Good, thank you. Now Megatron can stop pestering me for datapads.” Ratchet grins at Megatron, who can’t help but smile back.

“How long until he’s a real doc?” Frenzy asks, passing the cube he’s been drinking over to Rumble.

Ratchet’s smile fades a little. “He’s fairly advanced in his studies.”

“I’m not going to be licensed,” Megatron says. He knew this when he started studying with Ratchet, but it still stings.

“That sucks.” Rumble frowns. “You know all the doctor stuff, right? Can’t you just take a test or something to prove it?”

“Unfortunately not. Even I can’t make that happen.” Ratchet frowns. “I wish I could.”

“I know you do.” Megatron rests his hand on Ratchet’s shoulder. 

“Aren’t you the Prime’s medic?” Frenzy asks. “Can’t you just ask him.”

Ratchet winces. “Sentinel...isn’t that kind of Prime.”

“Sounds like an aft,” Frenzy mutters.

“Frenzy, enough,” Soundwave says quickly. Frenzy quiets, but he doesn’t seem pleased about it. 

“Maybe one day...” Ratchet sounds a little doubtful.

“Not being licensed doesn’t mean I can’t study and work here at the clinic. I still get to help mechs.” Megatron shrugs. “It’s more than I ever really hoped for.” 

“And less than you deserve,” Ratchet says, looking up at him. “Alright, let me go log in to this terminal and I can show you how it works. Thank you again, Soundwave.” He nods to the gladiator and heads into the office.

Megatron finds himself standing in an awkward silence with Soundwave.

“Thank you for helping me,” he says softly.

Soundwave nods. “My next fight is at the end of the week.”

“I know. I’ll be there.” Megatron manages a smile.

Soundwave nods and goes to leave. He pauses at the door, Rumble and Frenzy still quietly hanging onto his shoulders. “Regardless of your intended function, you are already an excellent doctor.”

Megatron doesn’t know what to say. He just stands and stares in surprise. Soundwave lingers for one more moment before he leaves. Megatron watches him go. Coming from Soundwave, that compliment makes his spark warm.

“Megatron, come here so I can show you how this thing works!” Ratchet calls. 

Megatron goes, and if it feels a little like he’s floating...well. Must be the new terminal set up.


End file.
